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By: Jill Mizell and Anna Nillni

The State of Marriage and Family in the United States

The last 50 years have seen broad changes in the composition of family, the state of marriage, and the roles of parents.  The idea of the “ideal marriage” is changing, but many are concerned about the institution of marriage itself.  While there seems to be increasing acceptance of “non-traditional” family arrangements, such as unmarried couples living together and raising children, a significant number of people find the trend of single motherhood troubling. Many divisions in opinion are more pronounced when these issues are examined by demographic group, especially between groups differentiated by age, educational attainment, and income level.  Differences also arise when examining opinions through the lens of racial or ethnic background, which is the focus of much of this analysis.

State of Marriage

A 2011 Pew study  finds that a majority of adults (62%) say the ideal marriage is one in which both husband and wife work outside the home and both parents share child care responsibilities.   A Pew study entitled, “As Marriage and Parenthood Drift Apart, Public is Concerned about Social Impact” from July 2007 found that majorities across racial and ethnic groups agree that the main purpose of marriage is mutual happiness (67% of whites, 63% of African Americans, and 41% of Hispanics) as opposed to raising children (21% of whites, 23% of African Americans, and 38% of Hispanics).  When examining the role of children to marital success broken down by race and ethnicity, 35% of whites, 49% of blacks and 69% of Hispanics said children were important for a successful marriage.

Although the three demographic groups analyzed are all equally likely to have ever had children, there are significant differences in rates of marriage, divorce, and cohabitation.  A large majority of white adults (82%) have ever been married, followed by 70% of Hispanics and 54% of African Americans.  Of adults who have ever been married, Hispanics are the least likely to have ever divorced (23%) compared to 34% of white and 38% of African Americans. African American adults are the most likely to have ever lived together without being married (46%) compared to whites (34%) or Hispanics (35%).  

Trends in Changing Family Structure

A Pew survey (Oct 2010), “Public Renders a Split Verdict on Changes in Family Structure” identified three different groups of Americans based on their opinions around demographic trends, which are changing the traditional family structure: “Accepters” (31% of respondents), “Rejecters” (32%), and “Skeptics” (31%).  

  • Skeptics tend to mirror Accepters on many issues, including acceptance of cohabitation and tolerance of unmarried couples having children. 
  • The issue area where Skeptics break away is on single motherhood, so much so that this single variable essentially drove the wedge between the two categories, forming two groups from what otherwise would have been one.
  • Skeptics look more like Rejecters when it comes to the impact of single motherhood on society.  
  • Practically all Skeptics (99%) and Rejecters (98%) believe the increase in single motherhood is bad for society, while 74% of Accepters say the increase in single women having children makes no difference, and 13% go so far as to say it is “a good thing for society.” 

The issue of unwed women having children is highly moral (Pew survey, 2007): 77% of adults believe the trend is morally wrong with 44% saying it’s almost always or always wrong. Forty-six percent of whites, 44% of African Americans, and 40% of Hispanics believe unmarried women having children is morally wrong always or almost always.  

When Americans were asked about the cause of increased births among unwed women, the most popular responses that they volunteered tie back to the perceived morality of the issue. Fifteen percent of respondents believe the trend is a result of bad morals, 13% blame the breakdown in family structure, and 11% attribute the trend to sex-crazed youth.  Other answers include lack of information (10% of respondents), societal changes (10%), irresponsible or careless people (9%), the changing roles of women (5%), and men not taking responsibility (5%).